Last year we ended up with 137 participants. I am making plans assuming that the tournout will be close to that again, so please help out and sign up early.

If you sign up on-line, through the mail or in person you will save money as prices on the day of the tournament will be $5 higher. I can take cash, check or even credit/debit if you catch me on the course. PM me if you want to register by mail.

There are several new things in store this year and I'll update this thread with details soon. The basic idea of the tournament remains the same. 1 round at Lenora Park and 1 round at Alexander Park.

Check back here, @GCODiscGolf or GwinnettCountyOpen.com for details as they become available.

Things are looking great with a few early sign-ups and sponsors. I've gone ahead and placed quite a big merchandise order for players' packs and payout. It helps settle my nerves when I see the sign-up Emails coming in, so if you can sign up early, please do.

Thanks to some recent sponsors (Like the Bethlehem Blind Hog Throw Down and DiscStalker) we have only 8 more Tee Sign sponsorships to sell. If you didn't notice, I had to invent new sponsorship categories for DiscStalker and Lawrenceville Animal Care Center. Please patronize and thank them.

If we run out of holes, there will be other things to sponsor, like the 2 unique putting competitions! Free to those who pre-register.

30 folks signed up so far. Please encourage people to sign up early. It makes for a smoother and faster check-in.

Well, the Rec division sure is representing! They have nearly 1/2 of the entries so far.

Recent sponsor addition: PGA Tour Superstore. You'll want to check these guys out, if you haven't yet. They are giving us those great $10 off $10 purchase cards again for every player (even the pros!).

Advanced Division: If you are playing in this division, you shoot below PAR at Lenora and at or below PAR at Alexander. You also probably don't need to read this and probably aren't, so why am I continuing to type here? I really don't know. Perhaps I really like this new Kinesis Dvorak keyboard? Nah It's probably a manifestation of my obvious psychosis...

Consider this a shameless plug for the Iron Leaf Open tournament at McCurry Park on November 5th...ALL PLAYERS FROM ALL DIVISIONS GET A LONG SLEEVE DRI FIT SHIRT IF YOU REGISTER BY TOMORROW (Wednesday October 26th)!!

Only 71 spots left and less than 2 weeks to the event. You can sign up online through gwinnettcountyopen.com or in person. One of the best places to catch me in person is at the Iron Leaf Classic on the 5th! If you aren't signed up for that, please do. Great park, great TD and it looks like it'll be great weather.

Now that I have my schedule clear, I am in for the Gwinnett Open (and I'm chipping in for a hole sponsorhip with a disc as well)! I will have to get some practice in sometime soon...all that "free time" I have right now is killing me! This will also be my LAST Rec tourney as I will spend the off-season/winter fine-tuning my otherwise "stellar" game to make the jump to Intermediate in the spring. I guess you guys that know me can only accuse me of being the "bagger" for one more event. See everyone at the tourney!

I will have to agree that 13's pin placement is a bit .... intriguing. As long as this is a par 4, I have no complaints. If it is not a par 4, here is my justification. It would be one thing if the basket was in line with the narrow alley leading toward it, but by recessing it further, you force a very awkward lay-up from within 60-80 feet. If the old position was a true par three requiring a good drive through the gap and a one - or two-putt, this new placement requires: perfect drive, 50 foot layup, one- or two-putt. Considering how much room there is for error on the tee shot and second shot from a good position, I think this must be a par 4. The position of hole 12, however, is not justifiable in its current condition. Please tell me that those vines will be cleared out from the far-fairway side. I landed near, but short of the old pin placement and had no line for a putt due to the vines. It seems that position should have two options, cut the corner and follow the path directly at it, or throw a straight shot into the fairway past the basket followed by a vine-free look for birdie. A shot in the middle of the fairway 40 feet from the cage should not be penalized with a forced lay-up shot due to non-permanent obstructions. That's my rant, that's all I got. Looking forward to this tournament immensely!

The reason it is a bad pin position is because it is very unlikely to 2 and scores are going to be a 3 or 4 for good players. There are several 2 to 3 inch diameter trees blocking a legit path. So you have likely narrowed the scoring spread from 2 to 4 to 3 to 4. It's a lousy position - it does not matter what par is, it matters what the scoring spread is (or likely to be).

There are several new holes with shule very near by - which is cool for developing a new position, but may not be ready for prime (tourney) time. I am truly not trying to tick anyone off. I appreciate those trying to better the course.

Lastly, it is fun to dabble in some quirky positions on our courses. It is fine for casual or weekly dubs, but tournaments should be made of the most legit high-quality positions on the course (and that doesn't always mean longest).

Bob Johnson 27284

Living in the United States where the hottest European import is Plutocracy...

I agree with you for the most part, except i think the scoring spread will be conserved, just shifted. 2 to 4 becomes 3 to 5+ Because this tournament features many rec and beginner players, i can see a lot of frustration with this hole and some high scores reflecting it.

Bob, Your concerns are valid and though I don't completely agree, I do agree on some of your points. The parks maintenance guys were clearing around the new positions and did not clear everything that we expected. Also, when they cleared the approach to 13, it did end up being a bit higher to the right than it should be for the intended shot.

I was hoping to get the clearing done by last week, but it didn't happen. Any hole I'm not satisfied by Wednesday will go back to the position it was in at last year's tournament. This is why I have not posted the course descriptions yet.

By the way, the 5 position and the 13 position were discussed by the original designers, Ryan Harris and Doug Porter. Ryan told the GDGO board that they wished they had been able to install them, but never did.

pzakas12@gmail.com wrote:I agree with you for the most part, except i think the scoring spread will be conserved, just shifted. 2 to 4 becomes 3 to 5+ Because this tournament features many rec and beginner players, i can see a lot of frustration with this hole and some high scores reflecting it.

I was not really addressing the rec field - I was addressing the advanced and pro fields. If an advanced or pro player misses the first gap, I think most will pretty easily be able to toss their second shot down to the base of the hill short of the basket, lay up with their third and drop in 4. If they make the gap, they will lay up for the three, or clip some of the shrubs on their approach and have a drop in 4. No doubt you may see an occassional 5 and 2. But the average score will likely be the dreaded 3.5

For rec, it'll always be all over the map due to less experience and more erratic play.

We can look at the scores after the tourney if the pin stays there. No doubt that I could be wrong. And I do believe that those kind of positions can be fun for casual or doubles play and add a little variety to the course.

Living in the United States where the hottest European import is Plutocracy...

I guess that I'll have to admit to my lack of playing time recently at Alexander......but where exactly did they place the pin for 13?? I will be out there some this week for practice, but this part of the thread has me curious.

If you get locked out from on-line registration, PM me here, Email td@ gwinnettcountyopen.com or call me by clicking the icon at gwinnettcountyopen.com. There may or may not be one spot open ot Alex by then, but there will be a few at Lenora for sure.

I'm curious why the rec rating for Lenora is so low compared to the Intermediate +....?

Didn't they only have one pad that was different? (#2) and that made for a 70 point differential? Not a major deal, but I thought the rating's would be higher at Lenora than Alex, just based upon the length difference, and the wind, and it seems Alex was rated higher overall.

great job gerrit and all other awesome supporters of the GCO. like always the weather was great all fields were super competitive and the love of disc golf was shared with a sell out tourney. see you next year(or probably in a week or two).

Rich Meade wrote:I'm curious why the rec rating for Lenora is so low compared to the Intermediate +....?

Didn't they only have one pad that was different? (#2) and that made for a 70 point differential? Not a major deal, but I thought the rating's would be higher at Lenora than Alex, just based upon the length difference, and the wind, and it seems Alex was rated higher overall.

Nope that is about right. Just one hole being different can dramatically change the SSA if you separate a pool with a large amount of scoring data away from a pool with very little scoring data. You did have enough people rated over 800 with at least 8 rounds to receive an unofficial rating. However since you had some 850+ rated player both score well and poor it kinda messed with the rating distribution. In short...if you want a better player rating you gotta play with with the big boys (or at least on the same layout as them).

My guess is that these ratings will be adjusted when they become official and will probably go up a few points.

Thanks very much to Garrett, Vicki, Mike, and everyone who made this such a great event to play for the third year in a row. Still can't believe how badly I played at Lenora (+12 over what I shot there last year) but I still had a good time and will be eager to get back out there next year.

The final report has been submitted and the PDGA payment has been sent. The ratings deadline for the Nov 22 update was before the event, so official ratings should be calculated for the subsequent update.

Thanks to everyone who came out. I am humbled by the turnout each year as I am still trying to learn how to be a good TD. In that vein, could you please take a quick 2 question survey?

hole 5 at alex had to of been new pin placement cause i dont know how it only gets dueced once by all the pros and comes out being averaged as one of the highest par 3's on the course. what course was played first by pros?

Not exactly a well thought out golf hole. I wish I had an extra set of hands so I could give it 4 thumbs down. Check out that scoring spread on 16 at Alex. We might as well have played 17 holes and saved the time.